Google Keep note-taking web and Android apps are now official

A few days ago a new Google note-taking app called Keep made its way to the net for a brief time, before disappearing again. Now Google Keep is back, and finally official.

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So what does the new app bring to the table? Basically it is somewhat like Evernote, allowing you to create, save and share notes, pictures, task lists and other content in an organized manner. The experience goes far beyond your phone or tablet though, as it is integrated into Google Drive and that means that all your notes and data are accessible from any device or computer with access to Drive.

Don’t want to take the time to type in all your notes? No worries, the app is easy to control with your voice as well, and can even automatically transcribe voice memos for you.

While this shouldn’t be a problem for those of us with reasonably new hardware, it is worth mentioning that the app does require Android 4.0 ICS or higher to work. For those with Jelly Bean 4.2, there is also a lock screen widget that makes taking down notes with Keep even easier.

Hit the Google Play link below to grab the app. Additionally, if you want to edit and create notes on the web, head over to http://drive.google.com/keep. What do you think of Google Keep, sound like something you will use regularly or not?

I think we should all boycott Keep until Google defines a proper shutdown policy. I was burned badly by the Reader shutdown… they only gave 3 months notice and I’m not happy with the currently available alternatives [most of which are straining under the unexpected load]. Something like Keep is just as critical as what Reader was to me. I won’t trust it until Google properly defines shutdown parameters. #BoycottKeep

http://www.facebook.com/isaac.harrison.14 Isaac Harrison

What would you consider an acceptable shutdown policy?

BrianS

Reader should have had a year’s notice of shutdown, not 3 months. There are a large number of applications that sync to Reader. With a year, numerous alternatives would appear… currently those few alternatives out there are straining against the sudden load. An application like Keep might need an even larger amount of time.

The problem here is that Cloud apps go completely away when they shutdown. In desktop computing, you can use an app for years after the manufacturer abandons it. Google needs to realize this problem and define proper policies. Without such policies it is not possible for people to trust cloud-based apps.

Eastern37

What’s done is done get over it and move on! I think that boycotting Keep would do sweet nothing! Not that it would even happen in the first place.

aholsteinson

Frankly the whole melodrama over the Reader shutdown has gotten lame. I mean it is not like Google didn’t give you the option to takeout all your feeds and data and gave you three months in advance so that you could take the time to find an alternative and import your feeds into it. That you are not currently satisfied with the available alternatives is not Google’s fault, nor is it Google’s fault that companies like Apple decided to remove RSS support from their apps (Safari and Mail in their case and without notice I might ad).

Yet, Google is expected to just keep a resource hog service going that is not driving a profit to their businesses and which people are basically using as a backend for the plethora of apps that connect to Google Reader (some of which even charge, in spite of Reader being free).

Saying that “we should all boycott Keep” just because Google decided to shutdown Reader amounts to nothing but FUD.

Brian Sturgill

Google provided a sync service for RSS that was so good, that pretty much all other RSS applications either went out of business or used Google as its underlying data sync. Google gave this large ecosystem only 3 months to find alternatives. In can take that long for an iOS developer to get their app through Apple’s approval process. Would it kill Google to give the Service a year to shutdown? Google of course is allowed to do what it wants with the service, but it makes me and many others NOT TRUST THEIR SERVICES. That I can “make due” with the few alternatives left is beside the point. What if they do this with Drive? Gmail? I use many Google services, how do I know what’s next? The only “FUD” created here was by Google. Reader is a heavily used service; they could easily have charged for it; many would have gladly paid. If Google is willing to kill this service with so little warning, how can I not have fear, uncertainty and doubt about its other services? Google has brought the whole concept of SaaS into question.

Daryll Hurst

Now who can I get to import all my evernote entries to keep?

http://twitter.com/skinggzyq リン

Does this support offline notes?

Eastern37

Yep!

Not happy

Why invest time and effort, if Google decide to shut it down like the original google notes, or igoogle or reader. Frankly I’m over the google free service stuff.

sunny

Doesn’t work on ginger bread

http://www.facebook.com/VladWeber Vlad Weber

Some people say that apps are great but it takes too much time and money to create them. That’s no longer the case though. Cross-platform mobile development has taken on a new face, one that’s high quality, data rich, timely and affordable, allowing build-once-and-deploy-everywhere (native and HTML5) abilities. http://bit.ly/15v8lf0

AndresM

Keep with Evernote…Make no sense to switch to a beta product knowing that google will shut it down if it doesn’t work as they expect.

Robert Blackwelder

Not concerned with reader, didn’t use it. How well does Keep work and can I import files from evernote?